BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 29 



less, diffuse, bald style, full of minute dis- 

 cussions and extraneous matter. Books of 

 this kind do not remain intact during many 

 generations of copyists. They grow with 

 the times ; or, to speak more correctly, they 

 have only a limited fame, and are replaced 

 by other treatises which are found more 

 suitable, or believed to be more complete. 



This is but a prejudicial view of the case ; 

 it is from the examination of the book it- 

 self that one must expect more convincing 

 arguments. It will be confessed, however, 

 that the opinion which attributes such re- 

 mote antiquity to " The Book of Nabatheean 

 Agriculture" must be abandoned, if I suc- 

 ceed in proving that its author understood 

 Greek science, the institutions of more ad- 

 vanced (achimedienne) Persia, and the Jewish 

 traditions in their apocryphal and legendary 

 form. Now these three points I trust to be 

 able to prove. 



Prof. Chwolson acknowledges that a great 

 number of Greek words occur in the trans- 

 lation of Ibn "Wahshiyu, especially when 



